QUITTERIE DE PASCAL-RUFENACHT, CHARLOTTE GUILLEMOT
Cherney, I.D., Harper, H.J., & Winter, J.A. (2006). Nouveaux jouets: ce que les enfants identifient comme “jouets de garçons” et “jouets de filles”.Enfance (3), 32-40.
Toys for Girls or Toys for Boys ?
Introduction
Toys have an impact on the child development, in fact, they are indispensable tools for the socialisation, the cognitive development and the creativity of the children. It appears that toys are often stereotypical regarding the gender. The Christmas brochures are a good example of these stereotypes. It appears that some type of toys are destined for girls (dolls, pink toys…) and others for boys (cars, manual work…). At a very young age, children can identify the appropriate behaviour in relation to their gender. Children will rely on the world they are living in and start to observe the behaviours and relationships between adults, men and women. Moreover, children before the age of 7 might believe that their own attraction to a specific toy is a criteria to judge the tastes of children of the same gender concerning toys. For instance, if a young boy like to play with cars he may believe that all the other boys like it too, unlike girls.
Experiment
The study we will present is about the children, boys and girls, thinking concerning toys classification. The children were between 2 and 5 years old. Concerning the methodology, 49 children participated (28 girls and 21 boys). More precisely, 9 children were between 2 and 3 years old, 23 children were 4 years old and 17 children were 5 years old. The study was done in America. Ten adult judges chose 28 pictures of toys picked on a specialised website. Several toys categories were represented: ambiguous, neutrals, female and male. The children had to classify the pictures in two separated boxes, one for the “girl’s toys” and one for the “boys’ toys”. Their interviews were filmed to be analysed afterwards. After choosing a box for the images, the children were asked to justify their choices.
Results
The results showed that the gender stereotypes differed by the age and the gender of the respondent. The stereotypes have a stronger presence in older children’s and in boy’s minds than in the younger children’s and in girls minds. The boys tend to classify more games as “boys’ games” than the girls. Also, compared to the girls, the boys tend to classify the neutral and ambiguous toys as boys’ toys. The authors explain these results according to the culture impact and the parental perceptions.The children already started to develop gender stereotypes which reflects our society. The second explanation is a theory based on their minds. It appears that the children believe that the other children are like-minded.
Conclusion
To conclude, the preferences and choices in terms of toys are influenced by a gendered reasoning.
In fact, when children grow up they face the gendered adult’s roles in society and they tend to replicate and copy their actions and behaviours. Furthermore, the self-centred boys with a self-centred thinking tend to assume that the other boys enjoy the same toys as them. By knowing that these stereotypes exists in the choice of children’s toys, it is our responsibility to reflect on these results and act accordingly.
